A man who just celebrated his 90th birthday has lost his life savings after he fell victim to a notorious bank investigator scam.
Ray Anholt has lost all of his funds at two major banks after receiving calls from fraudsters, reports CBC News.
His ordeal began when he received a phone call from what appeared to be a number from CIBC. The caller said he was with the bank’s fraud department and needed Anholt’s help with a money-laundering investigation.
The caller instructed Anholt to withdraw from his accounts and a courier would pick up the money from his apartment. The scammer also said that the funds will be returned once the investigation is over.
Unfortunately, Anholt followed the fraudsters’ instructions. His daughter, Jill, says her father’s banks allowed him to drain his accounts despite the red flags, and the scammers stole $1.7 million CAD worth about $1.2 million USD.
When Anholt started making cash withdrawals, a CIBC branch manager questioned his activity and froze his online bank account and ability to get funds from an ATM, but Anholt could still take out money in person.
In a letter, the branch manager informed Anholt about unusual activities on his account but failed to inform the old man that he was likely involved in a scam.
CIBC also allowed him to move all his money to another bank, RBC, where Anholt would get large bank drafts every few weeks to buy gold. No one from the bank asked questions about the large withdrawals.
Says bank accountability advocate Duff Conacher,
“When someone’s doing unusual, very large withdrawals from their savings accounts, all sorts of alarms should be going off.”
In response to the report, RBC and CIBC say they have robust measures to protect clients from fraud.
“After such steps have been taken by the bank, clients retain the right to make decisions regarding their account and access the funds in their account.”
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